We offer our team unlimited time off, but with an expectation that you take at least 25 days off a year, including national holidays. This is to make sure that people can take time off flexibly while not feeling guilty about being on vacation.
The reason for this policy is that it's critical for PostHog that we hire people we can trust to be responsible with their time off - enough that they can recharge, but not so much that it means we don't get any work done. The People & Ops team will look into holiday usage occasionally to encourage people who haven't taken the minimum time off to do so. The 25 days is a minimum, not a guide.
As general guidance, we don't care about a few days here and there. If you are taking significantly more vacation time than most - for example, 40 days, we would be very surprised if you aren't causing a strain on the rest of your team as a result.
Permissionless time off
We care about your results, not how long you work.
You do not need to get approval for time off from your manager. Instead, we expect everyone to coordinate with their team to make sure that we're still able to move forwards in your absence. For example, having an entire Small Team off at the same time means we can't be responsive to community issues.
How to book time off in PTO by Deel
Before you start, make sure that:
- You have authorized the PTO by Deel app in Slack to connect to your Google Calendar
- You have subscribed to the team time off calendar
If you don't do this, your holiday won't show up in the team time off calendar.
To book a day off:
- Book it on the PTO by Deel app in Slack. There are various types of time off you can select. It will be automatically approved and added to the team time off calendar (with the exception of longer term leave.) It will also be added to your manager's personal calendar.
- Block out your own personal GCal to show that you are out. This is because PTO by Deel only books in an all day event in your calendar to show that you are out. If you don't do this, automated meetings such as interviews or demos might still get booked into your cal.
- Set an out of office message on your email and have it point to someone else on the team, or hey@posthog.com. PTO by Deel will automatically set your Slack status to out of office and will autorespond to Slack messages.
Please manually book in public holidays you plan to take off as well. We have team members working in countries all over the world, so it is not practical for us to book these all in on your behalf. Some people also prefer to work on certain days even if they're considered a public holiday in the country they are living in or visiting.
The same rules as above apply regardless of the holiday length and type. Sick leave and any other types of time off should also be booked in the same way.
Flexible working
We operate on a trust basis and we don't count hours or days worked. We trust everyone to manage their own time.
Whether you have an appointment with your doctor, school run with your kids, or you want to finish an hour early to meet friends or family - we don't mind and you don't need to tell us. Please just add it to your calendar and, if you are doing anything that could require you to be immediately available (ie support hero / or any customer-facing role), please make sure you have cover.
When you should have time off
You are sick
If you are sick, you don't need to work and you will be paid - the upper limit for paid sick leave for your country will be specified in your contract. This is assuming you need a day or two off, then just take them.
Please let your manager know if you need to take off due to illness as soon as you are able to and add it to PTO by Deel. You shouldn't pre-emptively book a bunch of days off sick, as you can't know how long you will actually be sick for and you may trigger the need for a doctor's note (see below). Just book the day or two off that you are sick then add more if you still feel unwell.
For extended periods of illness (5+ work days), or if you are going over the limit in your country/state, please speak to Fraser so we can work out a plan. In most countries, we will need a doctor's note from you.
If you have a medical condition you know will take you away from work regularly, please let Fraser know so we can work out accommodations with you and your manager.
Bereavements / Child loss
We do not define “closeness” and we won't ask about your relationship to the person or what they meant to you. Please just let us know up front how much time you would like to take.
Our bereavement policy also covers pregnancy and child loss for both parents, with no questions asked. Please take at least 2 weeks of paid leave.
If you need extended time for physical or mental health reasons, we will treat it as extended sick leave.
Jury duty / voting / childcare disasters, aka 'life stuff'
There are lots of situations where life needs to come first. Please let it - just be communicative with your team and fit your work around it as you need. We trust you will do the right thing here.
If your are summonsed for jury duty, please let us know right away - we can often get an exception granted if we have enough notice.
Parental leave
Parental leave is exceptional as it needs to be significantly longer than a typical vacation. Anyone at PostHog, regardless of gender, is able to take parental leave, and regardless of whether you've become a parent through childbirth or adoption.
If you have been at PostHog for over 1 year, you can take up to 12 weeks off on full pay. You can take a further 4 weeks unpaid leave if you need more time. After this, if you need to stagger your return to work, you can come back at 50% capacity on 50% pay afterwards. If you live in a country where a statutory parental leave benefit is available, you will be required to claim statutory parental leave pay (if you are eligible) and PostHog will supplement any gaps.
If you have been at PostHog for under 1 year, we will pay you according to your local jurisdiction's legal requirements.
Please communicate parental leave to James or Tim as soon as you feel comfortable doing so, and in any case at least 2 months before it will begin. They will let the People & Ops team know, who will follow up on any logistical arrangements around salary etc.
We are aware that there are local laws around time off for new parents in every country, and that these may vary. Wherever there is a discrepancy between local regulations and PostHog policy, local laws will override PostHog.
Birthday and anniversaries
We celebrate all the big and little milestones at PostHog, including birthdays and work anniversaries. We celebrate each team member as a reminder of how much we appreciate them. Kendal is currently responsible for organizing these.
Birthdays
We have partnered with Batch to send all team members a personalized giftset for their birthday.
These are the steps for making an order:
- Complete all necessary information on the “Birthday tab” with the customer order sheet and send to Bri Nightingale, CSM at bri@batchusa.com
- Bri will send an invoice to be paid with steps on how to make the purchase payment
- All set!
The birthday gift usually arrives on the day of or 1-3 days prior to the birthday. Shipping fees: US shipping is free while all other countries will have shipping fees.
Anniversaries
On your first-year anniversary with PostHog, you will receive a giftcard from Giftogram which can be used on a wide selection of brands. On your second-year anniversary you'll be gifted a customized Lego minifig in a display case, and on your third-year anniversary, you'll receive a personalized gift from Batch.
1st year anniversary - $50 for US gift cards/$55 for for all other countries gift cards to cover service fees:
- Login into Giftogram by using your gmail credentials
- Two ways to create a new Giftogram, on the tool bar above where it says “Create and Send'' or you can click on the right hand side on the blue button “Send a Giftogram''.
- Walk through the following steps:
- Select the appropriate campaign: US Campaign= US team members, GCode Campaign= EU+ALL team members, and CA Campaign= Canada team members
- Select a card design of your choice (easiest to just use the anniversary theme)
- Next screen, select “individual”, email as a delivery method, and add value (see above for amount) and continue to the next step
- Enter the individual’s PostHog email address. You can add multiple email addresses if there is one then one anniversary. The amount will add itself on the right hand side as you add more individuals. Then, continue to the next step
- Delivery message; select PostHog team as the sender and select the drop down “1st year anniversary” as the pre-populated message or you can create your own personal message
- Last step, schedule the delivery date and you’re done!
2nd year anniversary - Customized Lego figurine:
- Log into Fab-brick (login credentials are shared in People & Ops 1Password vault)
- Select the third tab “MiniFig Creator” and design your mini fig to look like the individual you’re celebrating!
- Make sure to include a display case and the three tier brick option
- After you’ve completed your design, check out. There should already be a Brex card on file. Please make sure you add the individual’s correct mailing address.
3rd year anniversary- via Batch:
- Complete all necessary information on the “Third Anniversary tab” with the customer order sheet and send to Bri Nightingale, CSM at bri@batchusa.com
- Bri will send an invoice to be paid with steps on how to make the purchase payment
The gift will usually arrive on the day of or 1-3 days prior to the anniversary date. Shipping fees: US shipping is free while all other countries will have shipping fees.